Waschhaus Housing and Office in Andechs

Waschhaus Housing and Office

Residential and Office Building in Andechs, Germany – design by Buero Wagner, architects

2 Dec 2015

Waschhaus Housing and Office in Andechs

Design: Buero Wagner

Location: Bergstrasse 2, 82346 Andechs, Germany

One of the oldest pilgrimage sites in Bavaria can be found on the east bank of the Ammersee, the monastery Andechs.

As a commodity of the Benedictine abbey Saint Bonifaz in Munich, the monastery ensures the financial basis of the abbey’s pastoral, social and cultural work – according to the credo “ora et labora – pray and work.”

With the renovation of the estate’s old washhouse, located between Florianstadl and the butchery, the workshop, laundry and monastery distillery, which are accommodated inside the building, could be modernized and reorganized according to their current requirements.

Two apartments, an office as well as various communal rooms and storage spaces were rearranged inside the historic premise. Despite of the poor and severely remodelled building structure much of the former washhouse could be preserved and carefully integrated into the new design concept.

The material and color selection of all architectural additions was based on the existing structure. White as the base hue in combination with the “color” of untreated materials was chosen as a recurrent theme: The interior features oak flooring and stairs, as well as white walls and fixtures creating a bright and light environment.

Genuine details such as vaulted ceilings in the apartments and the distillery, the rough quarry stone brickwork or refurbished interior doors and windows reflect the identity and history of the building. The exterior was handled with equally sensitive care subjecting the cubature and façade to only minimal changes. Plane tiles, copper, wood and manually-applied plaster preserve the building’s original character integrating it smoothly into the surrounding ensemble.